Yorktown students step back in time (video)

May 23, 2013 at 12:23 a.m.Updated May 24, 2013 at 12:24 a.m.

Yorktown High School sophomore J.D. Schroeder, as the Wizard of Oz, tells third-graders about the life of author Frank Baum. High school students put on a time travel expo for the elementary school students Thursday.
Sonny Long
for The Victoria Advocate

Yorktown high schoolers present 10 different periods, subjects to elementary students

YORKTOWN - Yorktown Elementary School students took a yellow brick road back in time Thursday.

The students toured the high school's time travel expo, experiencing various historical characters and events of the past and learning about history, literature and more.

English teacher Teresa Childress said the event was intended to broaden the range of knowledge wider than the end-of-year Renaissance Festival the school had put on in years past did.

"It gave the teachers more topics and authors to draw from and gave the students more freedom to develop what they wanted," Childress said.

Each of the time period presentations took time for research, decorations and costuming, said Childress.

The high school student actors and performers manned 10 stations from medieval times to modern science.

The book "The Wizard of Oz" and the life of author L. Frank Baum were studied and shared with about 500 younger students as they made their way through.

Kelsey Lynch, a sophomore, portrayed Dorothy.

"The kids are learning about how to be brave, how to overcome their fears and not give up," Kelsey said. "It was so fun putting this together. There have been so many happy kids, and that makes it all worthwhile."

Theater arts teacher Margie Hlavaty said the students putting on the Wiz had to learn about research, script writing and making sets.

"They learned about the life of Frank Baum, the first American writer of children's literature. The little kids love it. They love anything visual."

Other stations included the Old West, roaring '20s, Greek mythology and Mother Goose.